Blogs

Over the last few years I have written in this space most of what I know about spirituality. Unlike theology which is literally a study about God and can go on and on investigating and developing theories and different ways of understanding the host of things surrounding the nature of God, spirituality is quite simple. That is why its practice crosses all religious, ethnic and social boundaries.

I’m very excited about a new program that we are introducing to the church next month called “Together in Faith”. It will help equip parents to be better teachers of faith, while helping the entire congregation to support our younger members in learning more about God. Each grade will meet for several weeks with parents and teachers on Sunday Mornings and in most cases there will then be a celebration in worship about what they have learned together. Next month you can look for the brochure that should tell you when each of these celebrations occur. Parents will be asked to join their children for their scheduled events. I also want to encourage the other generations of the church to get involved in the teaching of one or more of these events.

How trustworthy are God’s promises? If this question were to be directed to you, and now it is, what would your answer be? Probably most people who read this would respond with: ‘completely’ or ‘totally’. We do believe God to be trustworthy.

Suppose the question were reframed to ask: “How ‘completely’ do you trust yourself to God, letting yourself go into God’s care and direction?” Your answer to that might be quite different. Perhaps the answer would then be: ‘somewhat’ ‘partially’ ‘sometimes’ or ‘not enough’.

One of our well read council members, Don Imsland, lent me his copy of Harvey Cox’s recent book, THE FUTURE OF FAITH. Cox, a former Harvard theologian, has been an invaluable interpretive voice on the American religious scene for decades.

In this new book he astutely divides the history of Christianity into three periods: The Age of Faith, the Age of Belief and the Age of the Spirit.

Dear Friends in Christ,

MARKING THESE DAYS

These recent days are marked by significant transitions. I hope you and I remain open to the shaping and strengthening nature of God to bring sacred change…in our hearts and our minds, our bodies and our relationships… to our life together at Our Saviour’s…and to the world near and distant to us. That change…is marked by prayer, listening to God.

There's always somebody needing help. And we do a tremendous job as a congregation of helping out. We raised over $700 for Catholic Charities on the last weekend of April. We had over $6,000 come from our congregation for the earthquakes in Haiti. We regularly step up and give.

 Recently I was asked by the Library Committee of OSLC, currently restructuring our church library, to make suggestions of books on ‘spirituality’ to be acquired. I went to my own library where I have numbers of books on the subject and began deciding what books I could suggest and contribute.

As incredible as it might seem at this time, I was a lifeguard at the Mulberry City pool here in Fort Collins
for 5 years after I retired from Campus Ministry at CSU. I had been swimming there for some years
when the manager asked me if I would be interested in guarding during the day for one day a week. I
became certified and had a wonderful experience.
One technique that is used in life saving is to approach a person in distress from the rear and out of

As we begin the new year, I encourage you to consider reading upon an issue that affects us all.
Six new Books centering on the struggles in Israel and Palestine for peace have been added to our
Library and are available to be checked out. The titles of these books are:

• Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict by Phyllis Bennis
• Witnessing for Peace by Munib Younan
• Occupied with Nonviolence by Jean Zaru
• And Christians and a Land Called Holy by Charles Lutz and Robert Smith

Almost every Sunday we publicly proclaim in our Creed that we believe in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Of these three persons of the Holy Trinity we tend to overlook the work of the Holy Spirit, which is most unfortunate. The function of the Holy Spirit is paramount in our faith experience.